Future generations in democracy: representation or consideration?

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

This paper asks whether the genuine representation of future generations brings any added value that could not be achieved by institutions or procedures installed to supplement and support ordinary representative democracy. On this background, it reviews some arguments for genuine representation of future generations. The analysis reveals that they tend to overlook the democratic costs of such representation (violation of political equality, risk of distortion of the deliberation and undermining of autonomy), while they seem to ignore the alternative of giving consideration to the interests of future generations within current democracy. It is concluded that what really matters in terms of the democratic ideal is to ensure an impartial deliberation which takes the interests of all affected parties sufficiently into account.
Original languageEnglish
JournalJurisprudence: An International Journal of Legal and Political Thought
Volume6
Issue number3
Pages (from-to)535-548
Number of pages14
ISSN2040-3313
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2015

ID: 147948609